The American Space Agency has launched Exo Lab Mission designed to train selected students from around the globe on space research.
The research to be conducted under the auspices of Magnitude.io, explores crop planting and monitoring from the international space station.
Students of Government Secondary School, Garki, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Abuja, alongside other students worldwide, are participating in the pioneering research with the U.S National Laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS).
In the experiment, the selected students are brought together in a virtual set-up to investigate the effects of microgravity on living things.
In Nigeria, the research is sponsored by YouthHubAfrica in collaboration with Magnitude.io Inc.
YouthHubAfrica’s Programme Manager Olusegun Medupin explained that the programme is called “the legume in space”.
Explaining the reason for limited access to the project, he said, “Only two schools in Africa are participating in this programme. Why most schools cannot easily partake at the moment is the fact that it is expensive. For instance, we purchased the apparatus needed between $2,000 and $3,000 and it needs to be bought in the U.S.”
